#118 - Why Stronger Isn’t Always Better: Rethinking Performance Training for Young Athletes, Part 1

Why Stronger Isn’t Always Better: Rethinking Performance Training for Young Athletes with Matthew McKay

In youth sports, performance training often prioritizes strength, dominance, and early specialization — but at what cost?

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Matthew McKay returns to the FAKTR Podcast to challenge some of the most common assumptions in youth performance training. This conversation reframes what “success” actually looks like for developing athletes and why chasing strength numbers too early can quietly undermine long-term health, consistency, and performance.

Rather than focusing on short-term dominance, this episode explores how movement quality, training age, and foundational strength skills play a far more critical role in helping young athletes stay healthy and competitive over time.

This episode is essential listening for healthcare providers, strength coaches, athletic trainers, and anyone working with middle school and high school athletes.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why strength should be treated as a skill before it’s treated as a metric
• How early performance gains can mask poor movement quality and compensation
• The risks of prioritizing dominance over durability in young athletes
• Why many youth training programs unintentionally increase injury risk
• How movement patterns reveal readiness, limitations, and future risk long before pain appears

🔗 RESOURCES & LINKS:
🎄 FAKTR’s 12 Days of Christmas are live — a curated series of limited-time educational, product and partner offers, discounts and freebies for clinicians and performance professionals. Explore what’s available at https://tinyurl.com/faktrpod-118

🎙️ SUPPORT THE SHOW: Visit our website at faktrpodcast.com to leave a review or comment